There are few things in life more aggravating than having your flight cancelled or delayed. Of course, Canadian travellers learn to expect occasional delays due to weather, particularly during the winter months, but many delays are due to issues within an airline's control, such as crew scheduling conflicts or mechanical problems — and some airlines are worse than others.

Authors Arik Motskin, Zack Gallinger and Neil Oman looked at six months worth of data from Flightstats on flights joining nine of the busiest airports in the country (Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Halifax and Quebec City).

According to their findings, the best medium-to-large-sized carrier is WestJet Encore, which flies a variety of domestic short-hop routes including Edmonton to Calgary and Toronto to Montreal. WestJet also beat out main competitor Air Canada on longer flights within Canada.

Here's The 10 and 3's full ranking:

Which airlines to choose and which to avoid if you want a better chance of arriving at your destination on time. (Chart: The 10 and 3)

The authors note airlines aren't completely to blame for their on-time performance; unsurprisingly, the busiest airports in the country also tend to have the worst delays. Flights in and out of Toronto Pearson arrived at their destination on time just 81.5 per cent of the time, compared to 90 per cent in Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver.